1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical card connectors useful for PC cards, compact flash cards and memory cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
This kind of connector has been disclosed by, for example, Japanese patent application Kokai No. 8-96891.
The electrical connector according to the prior art comprises a card ejection mechanism which receives user's handling force and a transmission mechanism which changes the direction of the force from the card ejection mechanism and pushes out a PC card in the card ejection direction. Such an electrical connector is mounted on electronic equipment.
The card ejection mechanism comprises an ejector having a press button for applying a handling force to the rear section, an intermediate bar provided at the front section of the ejector and pushed forwardly by the ejector, and an ejecting bar is pushed forwardly by the intermediate bar. The ejecting bar drives the transmission mechanism when the press button is depressed. The transmission mechanism forces the PC card to an ejection position at the rear section. The intermediate bar is rotated with a predetermined angle near the ejecting bar so that the rear end of the intermediate bar can be moved between two positions in the direction perpendicular to the back-and-forth direction. Therefore, the rear end can engage with either the front portion or intermediate portion of the ejector. Consequently, the total length of the intermediate bar and the ejector is changed depending on the engagement. The total length is made so long that the press button can be easily pressed to eject the PC card. However, the length is made short during other times to minimize the amount of projection of the press button, thus minimizing interference with operation of the electronic equipment.
The connector according to the prior art comprises a first cam and a second cam in the housing. A resilient member provided on the ejector engages with the first cam and controls the round trip movement of the ejector. A guided shaft provided on the intermediate bar engages with the second cam and rotates to switch the intermediate bar between the two positions.
According to the electrical connector of the above Japanese patent 8-96891, the amount of projection of the press button is sufficiently large to provide easy ejection of an PC card but so small that there is little interference with operation of the electronic equipment.
However, this connector has the intermediate bar between the ejector and the ejecting bar and the two cams. The increased number of necessary parts makes the connector complicated, increases the manufacturing and assembling costs, and makes the connector bulky. Therefore, there is a demand for a more compact connector.